The boys meet Lucy

The boys and Nana arrived this morning to meet Lucy and it was quite fun and sweet to watch. Austin was quiet and very sweet- he was definitely smitten with her. He held her and wanted to hold her again and gave her sweet kisses. Bennett was...well exuberant is the word that comes to mind. He was quite spirited and kept saying funny things in a very loud and enthusiastic way. He also made sure attention was on him and acted up a bit while he was here- a very normal reaction and probably sign of things to come. But watch the video for a great example of his enthusiasm. We have about 10 funny clips of Bennett talking, but will just post one for now. And Nana...wow we are so thankful for Nana. She walked off the plane and onto duty. The boys are loving every minute and have not seemed to miss us too much. They had Dunkin Donuts straight from America in the Fun Bag this morning. I am recovering pretty well and Lucy actually slept a lot last night...though she would not eat much. Hoping for more eating and sleeping tonight. Well, she is sleeping now so I guess I had better get some while I can.

Lucy Christine Gaertner's Arrival

Lucy Christine Gaertner was born Sept 29, 2:58 pm China time. Weighed in at 6 lbs 15 oz (3.155 kg). Length 48cm (18.5 in).
"Lucy" from Latin "Light"
"Christine" from Greek "Follower of Christ". Mom and Lucy are both doing well, and we did get a private room for the night (though delivery was in a shared room). Can't wait for Austin and Bennett meeting her tomorrow!

Thursday

Well, I had my appointment today...and I am dilated almost 3 cm! I am thankful to the Lord for a clear answer to my dilemma. So we will plan to be induced tomorrow morning- going in at 10 am- if she doesn't come tonight first. However, today the maternity ward beds were all full. Meaning that if they are full tomorrow I will have to wait for an "elective" induction. However they assure me if labor starts on its own, they will make a place for me. Good to know, huh?

Anyway, we are excited and ready to meet Mei Mei. Please pray she will come safely and be healthy, that they will have a bed if we need to induce and for all of us during this transition. Hopefully the next post you can meet her! Going to try and get a much needed night's sleep now.

Just waiting

I don't have a lot of news to post today, but I guess that is news itself at this stage of the game. Life is going on and we have fairly normal days, not knowing if tomorrow will look anything like I think it will. I guess all of life really is that way and I should have that open- handed expectancy more of the time. But certainly right now it is the only way to be. So, I got to be part of a meeting with Chris this morning, played with the boys and sent Austin off to school, got a nice rest time and a little computer time to myself. Tomorrow I go back to the doctor for my weekly check up and it will be decision time.

I hate making quick decisions, but I will probably have to decide on the spot- does it look like inducing on Thursday is the best plan? Or should we just wait it out? Should the upcoming holiday be factor in our decision- traffic will probably be much worse than normal Friday and maybe through the weekend, though probably lighter than normal next week. Should I just go with another doctor- though I do feel really comfortable with the one who is available Thursday. In so many ways it is nice to plan, but in other ways I would rather let God decide for me and not be the one deciding when is the best time for her to be born. But since Austin came in 4 hours and Bennett in 3, she might come in 2 if the trend continues. Not a lot of time.

Anyway, for now each day is passing and we have very loosely made plans for each following day, knowing she could come anytime. We are very excited about Nana (my mom)'s arrival Thursday! Pray for our decision tomorrow- that we would have wisdom (or she would just come before then and we won't have to decide).

Little more birthday

We had a low key family day today, celebrating Bennett's real birthday as a family. We did "church" at home, since we were all very tired, lots of sickness going around and we are trying to stay healthy if possible these days. We had lunch at McDonald's, let the boys jump around on a blow up bouncy thing and ended the evening with more cupcakes and one more present. Bennett continued to be so excited about his birthday and kept talking about the fact that he was three.

After the play place, we took a little afternoon family excursion to...Tony and Guy, a western style hair salon. But not for me (though i am sort of dying for a haircut, but think I will wait till after mei mei's arrival). Guess who?

Yep, after almost 3 years without a haircut (about Bennett's entire life!) Chris decided to take the plunge and cut his hair. Perhaps Mei Mei's imminent arrival was a motivating factor. He is going to donate his hair to Locks of Love, since he had over 10 inches!

Wow, what a hottie :) !

Three more hours left of September 25..hopefully Mei Mei will make it past Bennett's birthday at this point.

Bennett's 3rd Birthday party

Wow, I can't believe Bennett is turning three! We had a fun, simple party outside with gorgeous weather for it this morning. We did some Cars themes games (red light, green light and "knock over the tractors"), drew with chalk (Bennett's favorite activity of course), presents and cake and playing outside. By far Bennett's favorite part was the cake. Way before the party he talked about "singing happy birthday to you. I am going to sing too and will have candles and cake!!!". I did not do a big impressive cake this year, but a really cute, easy one after Bennett's "precious ice cream cone". You bake the cake in an ice cream cone and then frost it, and it looks like an ice cream cone. Bennett liked it a lot and it was easy and less messy to eat than a normal slice of
cake.

We are so thankful for Bennett's affectionate heart, love of drawing and making things, exuberance about the things he loves and energy for life! We love our little big guy.

Austin picked this present out for Bennett- I recently discovered a thrift store here and Austin immediately chose this Thomas toy...it was well received.

Bennett's face in front of the candles was precious...he sang along with the birthday song and loved every minute of it. Watch below to see how he did with the candles!

Yeah for cake! The only time everyone sat still together was while eating cake.

Family shot...still enjoying the cones.

Xiao Chen and her daughters came to the party and Bennett had fun playing with her after the festivities.

Austin and Bree on Miriam's bike together. At one point during the party they were playing house and I heard Bree call for "Pa"- I guess Austin was the Daddy though I don't know where they got Pa from.

Making plans in pencil

SO here I am at 38 weeks. Ready to pop.

Austin jumped in- he finally started talking to Mei Mei and seems more excited about her arrival.

I am definitely in the "making plans in pencil" stage of pregnancy now. I am 38 weeks along and Mei Mei could technically arrive at any time. However, my history is to be pretty close to the due date (2 days late with Austin, 2 days early with Bennett- I was induced but was having contractions anyway that day). I have had 2 days where my Braxton-Hicks (practice contractions) were sort of intense and I thought- maybe this is it- but then they calmed down and here I am still. We also have to decide at some point soon if I will be induced again or just wait it out and hope my labor is long enough to make it to the hospital (4 hour labor with Austin and 3 with Bennett. At that rate, mei mei will come in 2 hours and it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour plus, depending on traffic). Unfortunately, my due date falls in the middle of the October holiday (National holiday), a week long holiday for most. My doctor is off starting Friday September 30-October 6 or 7. So I either would need her to induce me pretty early, or just wait it out and let her come on her own or choose another doctor to induce me. Not sure who drew the unlucky straws to be on call during the holiday week. Or she could decide to come tomorrow...basically we are on the "wait and see" plan for now. So we are making plans in pencil.

Bennett's 3rd birthday is Sunday and we are (tentatively) planning a simple party on Saturday morning with a few friends. I am hoping to have it at a nearby park- the weather has been beautiful, the kids can run around and it makes clean up easy. I am really hoping mei mei does not come Sunday the 25th- so she and Bennett can have their own special birthday and not have to share. Please also pray with us we stay healthy. We all are at the moment, but hand, foot and mouth disease is going around again. While not a dangerous illness, it is quite contagious and annoying and NOT something I want to expose a newborn to. We are washing hands a LOT and staying away from anyone who has it, but ...would appreciate prayer!

Books and pumpkin

Today was a beautiful fall day. Two things got me in the mood for fall today. I just found out yesterday about this huge book fair put on by a consignment shop that supports various local charities, held at the British International School. Austin and I had already planned a date together to the nearby donut shop, so we decided to drop in. WOW, definitely a good decision. It was HUGE. I didn't know that many English books could be found in one place in this city. They were really cheap too- ranging from 1 rmb to 20 or 25 for nice, hardback ones. I ended up with 30 books for 200 rmb (about $30), averaging 6.6 rmb/book. I only bought children's books- there were so many to look at I really didn't have time to venture to the adult section, but I have a Kindle anyway. So I was pretty excited about that and so were the boys. We will have to spread out the books over time, savoring having so many new books!


This afternoon I stockpiled pumpkin. I love pumpkin and it is really cheap here. Xiao Chen picked me up a big one for about $2 today. She peeled, cut and steamed it for me. Then I mashed it up, used a 2 cups of it in pumpkin muffins and divided the rest in ziplocs for the freezer. Now when I need pumpkin puree for soup, pumpkin bread or scones, pie etc I can pull it out in 2 cup portions. I also wonder if I am starting to "nest"- that pregnant urge to bake, clean, organize or otherwise get things ready before the baby comes. I don't know if it is the hormonal kind, but I am realizing I have 2-3 weeks before Mei Mei is here and want to get things in order.



We finished the evening with a dance party- at least the boys danced. Actually half way through dinner they got up and started dancing to U2's "Get on your boots"- both boys laughing and running around like crazy (especially Bennett). See the craziness for yourself! They were having so much fun I actually just allowed them to keep going on despite the fact they left the dinner table before they were done.

Go Guardians

Chris has a new "routine" with the boys. One of them stands beside the couch and yells "Go Guardians!" (the name of Chris' football team here) and Chris moves from a three point stance to whisking them up in the air and then (gently) body slamming them on the couch. They LOVE it and could do it repeatedly for hours if Chris had the energy. The other night Chris was getting tired and needed a break, so Austin said he would do it to Bennett. So Bennett, who often gets things a little mixed up, wanted to do "go guardians" to Austin (meaning Austin would do it to him). So this is how it went down...they did it repeatedly after this time as well. Glad when they can both entertain each other without arguing!

Mooncakes and the Botanical Gardens

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, a fairly important holiday where we primarily eat mooncakes, look at the full moon if it can be seen (too cloudy tonight though) and get a one day holiday from school and work. So today we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens. We had never been and heard it was a nice, spacious place to visit. Even though it was a big holiday, it was still only mildly crowded and there was space to spread out on your own. The highlight was the butterfly garden, an enclosed garden with hundreds of butterflies inside. It was also a nice cool day and a fun family outing...not sure how many more of these we will be having for awhile after Mei Mei comes.

...Been waiting for almost an hour for these photos to upload. Already got one bad request. Hopefully it will work before bedtime... ok yeah!

Austin brought his net in an attempt to catch butterflies. We didn't catch any, but did see a lot up close.

Ok, so many have asked here is a picture of my belly. Not sure it can get much bigger these next 3 + weeks, but you never know.

The boys loved the sunflowers and actually were loving on each other a little (before they reverted back to their recently normal antagonizing)

They had pink, yellow, orange and red sunflowers.

Back to school

I could not get a serious smile from my silly boy, but here he is all ready.

Today was Austin's first official day back at school. He was super excited about,which is always a good sign. Given Austin's history of being clingy to me and pretty introverted, I really wondered how he would do at school this past year. But I am so thankful that he really seems to love it, also enjoys the routine and really likes his teachers. I am really thankful for this little school and the love they show the kids. It is definitely a nurturing environment, which is what Austin needs. And his Chinese has definitely improved over the past year, he loves learning characters and seems to be doing well. We are trying 5 days a week this fall. It feels like a lot to me still for a not-quite 5 year old, but the school really encourages the attendance, he really does like it and the afternoon schedule is working really well for us (he just goes in the afternoons again). I think for language development the consistency is really helpful too.

He moved up into the next class- he is a little young, but most of the 8 kids in his class were recently 5 so he is not that far apart in age. They redecorated the school over the summer and it is really nice and inviting. All Chinese class is in one room and English is in another- so Austin spends the afternoon in the same place mostly ( he does not attend the English portion for obvious reasons). He was also really excited to learn they had new bathrooms- 4 little private stalls with 2 child-size Western toilets and 2 child-size squatties. Definitely a rare thing in Chinese preschools to have small Western toilets and privacy!

This is his new classroom.

Today on the way to school Austin was so cute. I was talking to him about obeying his teachers and being kind to the other kids and he said" I think we should make a Bible verse about that. About ...we should share with others and be kind to them...so we can become children of God." I explained we don't make up our own verses, but that was a great idea and those ideas are all in the Bible and we can find a good verse to memorize about those things.

Only a boy (well I guess we will see)

Today I put Bennett down to nap and Austin and I ran some errands out while Chris worked at home in his office. I don't know what transpired during Bennett's nap time, but I when I went in to wake him up when I got home, this is what I found.



He was fast asleep on the floor, complete with Jimmy Doggie and clutching his ice cream. And THIS is what was beside him on the floor.


Yes, that is his little potty full of pee pee and cars. Yes, he had peed in it right before nap and yes, I had not actually bothered to dump it out (in pregnant state or even not I confess I do not clean it every time). This has never really been a problem before. But what possessed him to fill it with his cars and Mack truck is beyond me. Hence the title- "only a boy" for surely only a boy would play cars in pee during naptime and then fall asleep beside it. However, I am sure I will have plenty of surprises with what Mei Mei is capable of too in a few years.

We have also had a resurrection of Bee Man, or rather Bee Men lately. Austin and Bennett have both been "Bee Man". Austin likes to pretend he is good Bee Man and Bennett is bad Bee Man and they fight. Bennett walks around making a buzzing noise. Sometimes though, like in this last picture, Bennett gets upset that he is bad Bee Man and gets really mad at Austin when he keeps fighting him. But they are pretty funny.

Gotta love Bennett in his undies under the outfit.

The fall schedule is about to be in full swing. Austin starts back at school tomorrow. We officially decided to wait another semester with Bennett, since we are privileged to have lots of family visiting this fall and he is still not yet 3 and doing well but still not always consistent with potty training. Considering his extreme love of being at my side all the time, he probably won't mind waiting though I think he will love it when the time comes. Chris' weekly schedule is about to pick up speed too and (very thankfully for this pregnant momma) the weather is cooling off a little bit!